Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RMSTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
Et les otages pendant ce
temps? Libérés lundi soir. par les
rebelles kurdes, en même temps
CIlledeux touristes allemands et
lln néo-zélandau (parti lui aUi6i
à la recherche de l'arche de
Noé), ils ont marché des heures
~t des heures sur les pentes du
mont Ararat avant d'être interceptés
Pl\f la police turque. «Un
ÎJ)ojs avec les Kurdes a été moins
pénible qu'un jour avec les Turcs
qui ont 'été plus discourtois que
Violents», commente Nico Piantà.
PoD é.rtamant le réçit ~e ses «va.catH;~»
kurd.,.,
Friday, September 17, 1993
Les rebelles donnaient régulièrement
des cours à leurs «hôtes»,
pour leur expliquer le bien-
Condéde leur combat. Le reste du
temps, les otages jouaient aux
échecs, discutaient, allaient explorer
la région sous l'escorte
d'un seul homme. «Nous avons
même pu nous rendre sur les
lieux où notre ami italien Angelo
Palego a repéré les restes de l'arche
de Noé», sourit Nico. A-t-il
jamais eu peur au cours de
l'aventure? «Un peu d'angoisse
,out 'en pensant à nos parents,
lorsque les Kurdes nous ontin-
terceptés. Mais la peur, seulement
quand les bombardements
turcs ont commencé dans la région.»
Le jeune Tessinois noue
les manches de son magnifique
pull de laine autour de sa taille.
Un cadeau de ses aimables geôliers
qui ont même pensé à éviter
aux otages un reCroidissement.
Nico le gardera en souvenir.
Quant à Giuseppe Rezzonico,
l'autre Tessinois lib.éré par le
PKK, il n'est pas trop pressé de
regagner la Suisse. Après avoir
récupéré sa voiture à Van. d;Û-
Demirel meets military,
intervenes on torching
of villages in Southeast
• Sources report major
decline in burning of
settlements
• Complaints of
killings, raids and
oppression continue
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- The torching of villages
in Southeastern Turkey by security
forces stopped for nearly one month,
following a crucial meet!ng between
President Süleyman Demlre1 and Turkey's
Chief of General 'Staff Gen. Dagan
Güre~ in the second half of August.
But villagers continue to complain
of raids and killi.ngs, mainly ai~~d at
forcing them to Jomthe para-mIlitary
village guards and baille the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The development came after the
president was infonned by TON editors
that there were allegations that
more than 400 villages had been partially
or completely burned down
over the past two years and this campaign
was serving the interests of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK).
Turkish Daily News
ANKARA- The torching of villages in Southeastern
Turkey by security forces stopped for
nearly one month, following a cl1!cial meeting
between President Süleyman DemIrel and Turkey's
Chief of General Staff Gen. Dogan Güre~ in
the second half of August.
But villagers c~ntinue to c~mplain of r~~s and
killings, mamly aimed at forcmg them to Jom the
para-military village guards and baille tbe outlawed
Kurdistan WorKers Party (PKK). Kurdish
sources told the Turkish Daily News on Thursday
that although Turkish raids on civilian settlements
were continuing --with the purpose of
catching or punishing PKK militants and sJ.mpathizers--
there had been no incidents of villages
being completely torched for the past month and
until this week, m contrast to developments over
the past year. TON editors, in an August 16 meeting
with Demirel, infonned the PreSIdent of loc~l
complaints of village ~urni~gs, and sai? that thiS
practice was further allenatmg the Kurdish people
from the state.
Demirel was later given two separate but detailed
reports on villages burned down by security
forces in the recen~ past, including five examples
from July in which all of the named settlements
were torched to the ground.
TON editors also voiced the reactions of senior
officers to theJractice in the region, saying these
officers argue that the PKK was recruiting new
ment escorté par la police turque,
il fera un crochet par la
Grèce pour achever ses vacances.
Les familles des deux touristes
iraniens et des trois bangladeshi
enlevés samedi par les séparatistes
kurdes s'en
trouveront-elles pour autant rassurées?
Face au gouvernement
iranien en tout cas, le PKK aura
plus de difficultés à promouvoir
sa cause. 0
turkish daily news
civilians among its ranks with each village that
was evacuated and burned down.
In the words of a senior police director in eastern
Turkey, "half of the men evacuated go up to
the mountains while the other half, sympathizing
with the PKK, go to the cities." Also, many local
officials believe the PKK is using village evacuations
and torchings for propagandä purposes, often
exagerating what has happened. Many times,
infonnation on village.burnmgs has come out to
be untrue. Often, the torching of only a couple of
houses has ~n described as the burning down of
a complete village. Hamlets, consisting of a handfuI
of houses, are also described as villages.
Most of all, ]ocal security forces are wary that
the urban population in the region is increasing
rapidly and that this serves, in ..the long run, the
orgamzation's leader Abdullah Ocalan's plans for
an "urban uprisings."
Genera] belief is that even if the villages are
not burned down, evacuating the inhabitents
without showing them a place to live is actually
shifting rotential terrorists to the cities. Discussing
the Issue with TDN editors, De:nirel said
claims related to village burnings could not be
true but he would still investigate them. The president
added, "The state cannot do something like
this ... I will raise the issue with Gen.Güre~ this
afternoon during our meeting."
Fonner Pearl es' Labor Party (HEP) chainnan
Ahmet Türk said later that he and other Democracy
Party (DEP) executives had been told by Demirel
to report on any infonnation they received
with regard to village torchings as well.
According to the results of a recent surve)l
carried out by TON Editor lsmet G.lmset, and
published in his Turkish-language book, "The
PKK," the evacuation of villages m the troubled
region stem from five causes.
lm set, noting that tens of thousands of people
have been displaced since 1989, cites these reasons
as:
I. Villages evacuated for border security reasons
during the Gu]fWar;
2.Villages evacuated after the Gulf War ongrounds
lIiat they support the terrorists;
3.Villages evacuated due to difficulty in pro~
tecting them against terrorist attacks;
4.Villages evacuated by their occupants on
155